Any "UltraDeck" Owners in our group?

[CFRay]

I am going to refurbish my 16 year old deck this spring, (new floor boards & railing) and am considering this product from M for just the railings. The treated structure is in good shape, cedar deck boards show the age. I've pretty much decided to go with treated for the deck boards but would like your opinions regarding the railings. I don't mind refinishing the floor but the railings are a chore.

What do you think?

[RickyBobby]

I re-did my deck and railings with Ultradeck last Summer. It went well. A couple of the railing kits had pieces that were a little too warped or were gouged. They replaced them no questions asked. Otherwise the material was easy to work with and the finished product looks really nice. I highly recommend the ultradeck double-threaded deck screws for use on both the railing and the deck. They're a little spendy but definitely worth it.

[Moe Szyslak]

I did my railings in Cedar with aluminum spindles. It allows to have a little more "view" through the railing and no maintenance on the spindles. I like it. I just drilled the holes with a portable drill press, then assembled.

[CFRay]

That's a good looking deck Moe. Was each hole of the bottom rail drilled to the same depth? Have you seen any shrinkage of the cedar 2x4 rail pieces? I like the look of that kind of spindle, is the top a 2x6 over a 2x4?

[Moe Szyslak]

Yeah, its a 2X6 on the top and the others are 2X4. The holes were all drilled to the same depth on the horizontal rails. The railing along the steps was trial and error for the depths and angles. Havent really noticed any shrinkage that has caused issues/

[Franchiz]

Moe - Your setup is very similar to mine in that I placed the black aluminum spindles in cedar. Over the last three years, the lower piece of wood has not held up very well. Did you drill "drain" holes for any moisture to escape? When originally built, the holes were very tight holding the spindles. Over time, these have expanded and even cracked in a few places. I plan on replacing them this summer and adding holes to relieve pressure.

[ac777]

I helped my dad build his deck out of ultra decking a few years back. It turned out nice, and is holding up well. The decking did fade to a tan/whitish color, but I guess they said it would do that.

[Bear55]

I just did a deck railing with aluminum spindles myself. I screwed inserts into the top and bottom of the rail instead of drilling holes, not sure which is better but the whole thing went up pretty fast.

[Bigbartguy]

I've done a couple of railings with the cedar and black spindles. if you go this route - definitely follow Bear55's advice. Use the inserts instead of drilling holes. Using the inserts will cut your install time in 1/2, unless you're set up with a drill press, etc etc to drill all of those holes.

Priced out the inserts vs. drill holes and it was cheaper to drill the holes, but not alot. A big box home improvement store with the initial H.D. has inserts/spindles in 1 handy package that is fairly priced.

composite railing - I've got a composite railing on my house the lack of maintenance is GREAT. I'd suggest buying composite with UV Blocker or something similiar to prevent fading. I used some stuff that faded to white and ended up yanking it out. My composite rail was ALOT more expensive than the cedar/black route though.

[shnelson]

Priced out the inserts vs. drill holes and it was cheaper to drill the holes, but not alot. A big box home improvement store with the initial H.D. has inserts/spindles in 1 handy package that is fairly priced.

Are they special order? I couldn't find them at the three big box stores I checked, HD included. I know i'd get a quick answer from a sales associate at said stores, but that implies I could find one to help me to begin with .

I love the look of cedar with the black spindles, definitely the technique we are going to use with out deck!

[Bear55]

I think the inserts are special order at HD & FF but I found them at Menards. You can probably find them online too.

[Bigbartguy]

they werent special order last year or the year before. My local H.D. had them on the shelf

It's not obvious that the H.D. spindles have the inserts included by reading the box. I was ready to go buy some, but opened the box and they were already in there. Made them very budget-friendly. At H.D. they were the Deck-o-Rail brand. 15 spindles and inserts for $29.

I started drilling holes and after drilling 3, I ran to H.D. and went the easy route. No way was I drilling 300 holes

CF- sorry about getting off-track here, I know you were asking about Ultra Deck. The composite I went with for my main home's railing had a fade-guarantee and was named GeoDeck and it's been great. Hasnt faded at all